Development plan for site of Chronicle moves forward

Updated 10:30 am, Friday, October 17, 2014

The exterior of the Chronicle building at 5th and Mission Streets. A development group plans to
build a large mixed-use development on 4 acres the Hearst Corp. owns around the building.

The exterior of the Chronicle building at 5th and Mission Streets. A development group plans to
build a large mixed-use development on 4 acres the Hearst Corp. owns around the building.

Photo: Deanne Fitzmaurice, The Chronicle

Development plan for site of Chronicle moves forward

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A development group is moving forward with a long-anticipated plan to build a large mixed-use development on 4 acres the Hearst Corp. owns at Fifth and Mission streets.

The proposal, known as 5M, calls for four buildings with 730 residences and 760,000 square feet of office space. The developer is a joint venture between Forest City, which is also developing Pier 70, and Hearst, which owns The San Francisco Chronicle.

The environmental impact report on the proposal was published Wednesday and will be presented at a Planning Commission meeting Nov. 20.

Before that hearing, Forest City will hold three public meetings to discuss the environmental study with neighborhood residents and community groups.

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The project would be built over the next 10 years, most likely starting in late 2016 or early 2017.

The first phase calls for 280 rental units in a 200-foot building on the corner of Minna and Mary alleyways, and 580,000 square feet of office space in a 400-foot tower at Fifth and Howard streets. The developer has committed to making 25 percent of the 280 units below market rate. A second residential tower, on Fifth Street between Mission and Howard streets, would likely come in a second phase. That building would be 472 feet, and would likely be sold to a for-sale condo builder. Forest City only builds rental housing.

The project calls for two open spaces — a 12,000-square-foot “Mary Square” next to the 280-unit building and a 22,000-square-foot green space on the roof of The Chronicle building, which will be preserved. The rooftop garden will have a separate public elevator, according to Audrey Tendell, vice president of development for Forest City.

“The (publication of the EIR) marks the jumping-off point of a series of conversations with communities to pull together a project we think is strong and can contribute to the neighborhood,” Tendell said. “It’s a unique opportunity to have 4 acres in a downtown location given how land-constrained we are.”

Marty Cepkauskas, director of real estate for Hearst’s Western properties group, said the project would “transform underutilized property at Fifth and Mission streets.”

“This project will also preserve the historic Chronicle building and further enhance the neighborhood as a hub for creative and cultural organizations,” Cepkauskas said.

The project will face intense scrutiny from neighborhood groups and affordable-housing proponents, especially since it is a stone’s throw from Sixth Street’s residential hotels. John Eberling, who heads up the affordable housing group Todco, a block from the 5M site, called the project massive and said a new fact sheet “raises more questions than it answers.” He said he is pushing the 5M developers to “buy local slum residential hotels and deed them to the the city for future full renovation as permanently affordable housing.”